CHC 4E

CHC 4E

The Shadow Marches are inhospitable at the best of times, and your mission here has decidedly not been the best of times. Although you have finished the business that brought you to this wretched place, you still must make your way back home. Fortunately, you have a friend in the region: Doria Veledaar, a Tharashk inquisitive. Doria is visiting her family in the village of Blackroot, and has extended a standing invitation to stay with her when you pass this way.

“’When madness and night align
And innocent blood waters the dark tree
The noble soul must claim the Coat of Eyes
And bear this burden for the good of all.’
—From the Talash Siberys

Thousands of years ago, the fearsome daelkyr came to Eberron from the Far Realm of Xoriat. After a long and bitter struggle, an order of druids known as the Gatekeepers used ancient primal magic to bind the lords of madness in the depths of Khyber, the underworld of Eberron. However, the influence of the daelkyr can still be felt in the world today. Mind flayers, beholders, and lesser aberrant monsters continue to do the bidding of their malevolent daelkyr masters, and in those places where the borders between Xoriat and Eberron are weak, mortals embrace dark dreams and fall prey to the voice of madness.

Tucked into the wild frontier of the Shadow Marches, the village of Blackroot is located on a manifest zone—a nexus point between Eberron and the planes of Xoriat and Mabar, the Endless Night. One of the Cults of the Dragon Below has long flourished in this place, its members sworn
to the service of Belashyrra, a daelkyr known as the Lord of Eyes. Partaking of Belashyrra’s foul gifts, those who serve him become something less than human.